Captive breeding, January 2013

Breeding aviary, Healesville Sanctuary

What's captive breeding?

The aim of the captive population of Orange-bellied Parrots is to prevent the species' extinction. It supplies birds for release into the wild, and acts as an insurance population. It began in 1985.

In order to quickly increase the captive population, six facilities now breed Orange-bellied Parrots:

•  Taroona captive breeding facility (Tasmania)
•  Healesville Sanctuary (Victoria)
• Adelaide Zoo (South Australia)
• Melbourne Zoo (Victoria)
• Priam Parrot Breeding Centre (NSW)
• Halls Gap Zoo (Victoria)

Private zoo, Moonlit Sanctuary (Victoria), has older birds for display which may or may not breed. 

So how's captive breeding going?
On 7 July 2012, studbook analysis showed the captive population numbered 205. The recovery program aims to have at least 350 birds by 2016/17.

Eggs are being laid at all institutions mentioned above. Chicks are hatching everywhere except Melbourne Zoo and chicks are now fledging at Healesville and Taroona, the two largest breeding facilities.

Taroona - breeding OBPs in the heat
Jocelyn Hockley is Senior Keeper of the Captive Management and Trans location Section of DPIPWE (Tasmania's Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment). She oversees the captive OBP program and is the Studbook Keeper and Species Coordinator for the entire captive population. 

According to Ms Hockley, the OBPs at Taroona breeding facility are doing well. The first chicks fledged on Christmas Day and this week, late-laying females hatched chicks.

Hockley says that the recent hot weather affected the birds, especially chicks in the nest. But she is confident about the staff at Taroona.

'They've done an amazing job in ensuring that everything is done to cool the birds down by opening nestboxes up a little, providing fresh food and water in the afternoon and spraying the aviaries. 

'They have also been going back in the early evening once it starts to cool down, to check chicks again and close nestboxes back up for the night. All the chicks appear to be doing well.'

Taroona has more than 20 pairs housed together and also four group aviaries. One aviary has four birds (two male, two female); three aviaries have three birds (one male, two females).

Sources:
Jocelyn Hockley 
Kristy Penrose
Orange-bellied Parrot Recovery Team, Update on the Orange-bellied Parrot Recovery Program, January 2013.

Debbie Lustig

Breeding in the wild: an update

Nineteen chicks and counting

The wild population of Orange-bellied Parrots at Melaleuca now numbers at least 20 adults (including 'first-year birds', which can breed in their first year). They comprise nine females and 11 males.

They began arriving on 1 October 2012, with the last (known) arrival 22 November.

Recent breeding seasons have seen similar numbers, with at least 22 arriving in 2011/12, twenty-one in 2010/11 and twenty-three in 2009/10.

This week 19 chicks from five nestboxes were banded. They are caught as nestlings (before they can fly), leg-banded, weighed, and have blood taken for DNA analysis. Each bird is fitted with bands of a unique colour and letter in order for later identification to be made.

As a total of nine females are known to have arrived and five have bred, it is hoped up to four additional nests have been used by the remaining females.

Chick tries to bite scientist after banding

Silver-coloured leg bands

Review of the year 2012

OBPs on feed table, Melaleuca

The Orange-bellied Parrot year doesn't follow the calendar year; it can be said to begin in spring, when they arrive at their breeding grounds in Tasmania. It ends with the last survey of sites on the mainland in late winter. Nonetheless, some highlights of 2012 can still be outlined. 

The year saw less media attention on OBPs but a concerted campaign by Zoos Victoria helped raise awareness in novel ways. Love Your Locals highlights the plight of 20 south-east Australian vertebrates threatened with extinction, including the Orange-bellied Parrot. Via a website, educational activities, displays of painted, baby elephants, a mural and a tram, the message has slowly expanded.

Another expansion was of captive breeding facilities. Adelaide and Melbourne Zoos, Taroona government breeding facility and Healesville Sanctuary were augmented by Priam Parrot Breeding Centre and Halls Gap Zoo. Moonlit Sanctuary in Pearcedale also received birds, primarily for display. See August and September (below) for details.

January, 2012 began with 22 birds at Melaleuca. Five pairs occupied nest boxes and eventually produced 24 eggs, of which 19 fledged. Of those, 14 juveniles became independent. The minimum wild population presumed to leave Melaleuca by autumn was thus 36.

In captivity, birds breed at these facilities: Adelaide Zoo, Taroona government breeding facility and Healesville Sanctuary. Melbourne Zoo and Priam Parrot Breeding Centre had both been given birds towards the end of 2011, too late to begin breeding in 2011/12.

The following is a subjective list by the author.


January

January sees plenty of activity at Melaleuca. By late 2011, at least twenty-two birds had arrived - nine female, 12 male. Wildcare volunteers are feeding them sprouted canary seed twice a day at the feed table. 

Six are unbanded birds and 15, banded. 

February

Birds begin to migrate north, adults initially then juveniles.

A boat harbour development in Westernport Bay is deemed worthy of assessment under the Environment Protection & Biodiversity Conservation Act, giving rise to 'frustration' for the developer. (The site was once used by OBPs although none have been seen since 1987.)
     Federal opposition politician and local member, Greg Hunt, refers to 'this imaginary parrot'. An environmental assessment is actually required as the harbour lies in the vicinity of a Ramsar site, that is, a wetland of international significance.

March

The Big Issue magazine publishes an article about the OBP in Issue 402, entitled 'Come Fly With Me'.

Birds continue to leave Melaleuca. 

Zoos Victoria commissions street art specialists Everfresh Studios to produce a graffiti mural in AC/DC Lane, Melbourne, highlighting its campaign to fight extinction. (In this video, an Orange-bellied Parrot appears at 2:30 minutes.)

April 

The first sighting of an OBP on passage to the mainland is made at Sea Elephant River, King Island, north-west of Tasmania.

On 11th April at Airey's Inlet, Victoria, Lindy Frost sees an OBP - during her morning tea! The first record for that site, it's also the first bird seen anywhere on the mainland, although not recorded as such until later.

Hedley Earl sees the first two recorded birds on 19 April, at the Western Treatment Plant, near Werribee, Victoria. 

The state government of Victoria cuts funding for public servants, including 10 threatened species officers.

May


Three OBPs take up residence at a well known site in the Western Treatment Plant (WTP). The OBP Recovery Team (OBPRT) asks for birders' cooperation and patience, organising for one access road to be temporarily closed.

The OBPRT meets in Adelaide. On the agenda: discussion of aspects of the recovery planning process and presentation of the full draft of the fifth recovery plan - now under review by government.

Bob Green, south-east South Australia Regional Coordinator, celebrates 12 years of work on the OBP.

June

OBPs on the mainland.

July

John Peter sights two OBPs at Kaarst wetlands near Torquay on July 21, the first record there since 1998.

Four (or possibly five) OBPs in total have been seen at the WTP. Another bird is seen at south-east South Australia and another in western Victoria, near Yambuk. 

August

A new facility receives Orange-bellied Parrots. Halls Gap Zoo, in western Victoria, takes delivery of five pairs to augment the OBP captive breeding program. 
     
208 birds announced in the captive flock.

September


Moonlit Sanctuary in Pearcedale, Westernport Bay, Victoria, receives seven older birds for display, to raise awareness and possibly, to breed. 

The Sunday Age publishes an article, 'A parrot so rare it may need to be captured to survive', which details some of the OBP recovery history in the past few years.

September survey turns up one OBP, across all sites in Victoria and South Australia.

Last winter sighting of an OBP on the mainland on 10 September, near Queenscliff.

Winter sightings total nine.

October

First sighting in Tasmania. An unbanded male OBP arrives at Melaleuca around 1 October, followed by more birds on 4th, 5th, 6th, 12th, 13/14th October. By 29/10, there are 15 birds - 8 males and 7 females.

A release aviary built to acclimatise captive-bred birds at Melaleuca, in preparation for a release.

Zoos Victoria and Yarra Trams launch a 'Love Your Locals' tram, with an OBP featured in the brightly-coloured artwork.

November

Plans for a 2012 release of captive-bred birds shelved. Factors influencing this decision: similar numbers of birds as 2011/12, roughly equal sex ratio, and uncertainties about possible different strains of Psittacine Beak & Feather Disease in captive and wild populations.

More arrivals bring the total of OBPs to 20: 11 males, 9 females.

7.30 Tasmania, the ABC TV current affairs program, films a segment at Melaleuca featuring Mark Holdsworth, Tasmanian coordinator, OBP recovery program. It screens 30/11.


December

Numbers at Melaleuca 20 with an unconfirmed extra, an unbanded male.

Proposal by Hydro Tasmania for a 200-turbine wind farm on King Island, a crucial stopover for OBPs on both northward and southward migration.

Priam Parrot Breeding Centre publishes unique photos showing candling of OBP eggs and a day-old chick.

Four nest boxes at Melaleuca reported occupied; several pairs seen mating at the feeding table at Melaleuca.

Melaleuca scene

Debbie Lustig

Copyright 2013. May not be reproduced without prior written permission.

Message from Bob Brown

Bob Brown is a former Australian politician and parliamentary leader of the Australian Greens Party. Renowned as a great champion of environmental causes, he rose to national prominence in 1981/2 when, as director of the Wilderness Society, he helped galvanise opposition to damming of the Franklin River which lies in a particularly beautiful part of the mid-northern Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. (Melaleuca, the Orange-bellied Parrot breeding grounds, is situated in the same Wilderness Area, further south.)

After careers in both state and federal politics, Bob stood down from the Australian Senate in June 2012. He continues active campaigning for the environment and helps fund worthy causes through his Bob Brown Foundation.

In 2005, Bob brought a legal case against Forestry Tasmania in an attempt to stop logging in Wielangta Forest, an important habitat for four endangered species, including the Swift Parrot. These birds frequent his country property in spring and summer. He often wears a Swift Parrot lapel pin on his jacket.

Save the Orange-bellied Parrot is an unashamed fan of Bob Brown for his courage, tenacity and intelligence. His contribution to the environment movement in Australia is immeasurable. So when we spied him walking along Melbourne's Southbank in mid-November, we did what a star-struck teenager would do: we bowled up and said hi.

Bob was pleasant and down-to-earth. He listened to us gush, introduced his partner and met our friends. We had a thoroughly good time, talking about - you guessed it - Swift Parrots and Orange-bellied Parrots. When we parted, he promised to write something for readers of Save the Orange-bellied Parrot.

Two weeks before Christmas, it arrived - a hand-written card in a hand-addressed envelope. Here's what Bob wrote:

The Orange-bellied Parrot is as beautiful a creature as Earth's biosphere contains.

Yet we, who dominate, expand and displace, are about to extrude this delightful fellow species from existence here on Earth, unless we take decent stock.

My gratitude and congratulations to all those who are working to save the Orange-bellied Parrot from extinction.

Bob Brown, Cygnet 11.12.12 

Fifteen Years Between OBPs

Karaarf Wetland, 21 July 2012

Over the years I have conducted dozens of Orange-bellied Parrot surveys at Karaarf Wetlands (the Point Impossible Saltmarsh), near Torquay, but more recently I have tended to conduct my regular surveys at other nearby expanses of saltmarsh instead.  

On 21 July 2012, having visited the nearby creek estuary to look at the wintering Double-banded Plovers, as an afterthought I decided to renew my acquaintance with the wetland, and tramped into the saltmarsh.  I simply wanted to see what birds were about, and watching parrots was the last thing on my mind.

The going is never easy at this site, as extensive sections are vegetated with tall Shrubby Glasswort bushes which are largely impenetrable, and so I kept mainly to the ‘creeks’ that meander through the area as well as the trails that are trampled by the resident kangaroos.

After I had trudged through the saltmarsh for some time, surrounded by the usual species — White-fronted Chats, Little Grassbirds, Striated Fieldwrens, Eurasian Skylarks and the like — I stopped and scanned across the canopy of the vegetation, and was surprised to see a Blue-winged Parrot in the very top of a shrub, only about 20 metres away.  I was even more surprised to see through my binoculars a couple of much brighter parrots among the foliage of the same bush — Orange-bellied Parrots! 

The longer I looked, the more parrots I could see clambering about among the foliage, but it was the two bright ones that held my attention.  I was able to creep closer to them, and tick off the characteristic features of Orange-bellied Parrots; they were easily compared with the nearby Blue-winged Parrots. 

After confirming my rare sighting, I tried to obtain a view from a different angle to see whether they were banded (their legs were obscured by the grey-green foliage from this front-on angle).  When I moved, I managed to flush all of the birds (a total of six BWPs and two OBPs).  As they flew off, the two Orange-bellied Parrots gave their characteristic buzzing call, something I had not heard for at least 15 years, but it was, nevertheless, instantly recognisable. 

Tellingly, the Blue-winged Parrots flew off to the south and circled around, quickly returning to roughly the same spot, while the two Orange-bellied Parrots flew off separately to the north-east, continuing in a straight line, gaining elevation all the while until they were lost to sight.

Subsequent searches of this and nearby wetlands over the next few days failed to relocate them.

Interestingly, my previous record of the species was also at this wetland, but in an entirely different section of the saltmarsh.  After that sighting, perhaps 15 years ago, I had always assumed that it was to be my last…

John Peter

Senior Writer, Birdlife Australia

  

A message from Peter Doherty

Professor Peter Doherty is one of Australia's most respected scientists. Originally trained as a vet, he took a PhD in 1970 before beginning research into the human immune system and how immune cells protect against viruses. This work with colleague Rolf Zinkernagel, ultimately saw him awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He was made Australian of the Year in 1997, is a National Trust Living National Treasure, a Companion of the Order of Australia, and has received countless prestigious international honours.

Based at Melbourne University's Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Professor Doherty lectures widely and has also commenced a writing career, beginning with The Beginner's Guide to Winning the Nobel Prize, published in 2005. 

A wonderful speaker, he combines great erudition with engaging wit. At the recent Melbourne Writers Festival, Professor Doherty spoke about his latest book, Sentinel Chickens. He also sent this message to supporters of the Orange-bellied Parrot.

Whether we look at the natural world and its avian inhabitants through the lens of the avid bird watcher, the concerned environmentalist, the religious believer who is obsessed with the magnificence of creation, or the data sets analysed by professional scientists, it is clear that the loss of any unique species is a matter of grave concern.

In the deep past, many such extinctions have occurred as a direct result of dramatic climate events causing habitat change, or rainfall loss, that made life untenable. Other extinctions have followed the introduction, or evolution, of predators (rats) or disease, perhaps (as occurred with avian malaria in Hawaii) as a consequence of human activities.

The orange-bellied parrot has become a symbol of avian species loss in contemporary Australia. We need to know how many survive, where these birds are and whether habitat (or other changes) that result from our activities are causing their decline.  That requires careful observation and analysis. 

If a cause can indeed be identified, that may well come into direct conflict with established economic interests. Changing that dynamic is likely to require broad community involvement and political action. The fate of the orange-bellied parrot is, in some senses, a test case for what is to come.

A number of threats to birds - and how birds help us discover more about our own health - are discussed in Peter Doherty’s 2012 book Sentinel Chickens: what birds tell us about our health and the world (Melbourne University Press). 

The Accidental Sighting

It's not often anyone sees an Orange-bellied Parrot, especially when they're not really looking. But sometimes, mundane things like stopping for a cuppa can lead to extraordinary sights...


The little parrot looked unfamiliar so Lindy Frost snapped a few photos. She wondered, briefly, if it was an Orange-bellied Parrot. But no, she thought, ‘They’re just too rare’.

As it happens, the Port Macquarie school secretary, who was on a caravan holiday with her husband, had seen and photographed the first, documented OBP of the 2012 winter.

The Frosts were one week into their six-week trip through Victoria and South Australia. It was mid-morning and overcast as David (‘not a birder at all’) lowered the car’s tailgate and took out their camp stove. As he made morning tea, Lindy went for her customary stroll, looking for birds.

 Below the lighthouse at Airey’s Inlet on the Great Ocean Road, Victoria, Painkalac Creek runs through coastal scrub before meandering into the sea. Here in the gloom, an Orange-bellied Parrot was sitting in a dead tree, close enough for Lindy to see something on its leg. Later, it was discovered to be a juvenile bird sporting two leg bands.

‘It was fairly plain green and there didn’t seem to be much in the way of blue on its wings or other identifying features at all,’ she laughs. ‘The local bird brochure had Blue-winged Parrot in it, so I thought that must be it!’ Lindy watched the parrot for a minute or two before it flew off.

It wasn’t until the Frosts returned home that investigations began. Lindy’s father, Graeme Catt, and Alan Morris (NSW Birding-aus) sent the photos to Chris Tzaros (Birdlife Australia), and an identification was made in early July.

The bird – No. 351 on Lindy Frost’s lifelist – was seen on 11 April. It’s the inaugural OBP record for Airey’s Inlet, the first OBP sighting of 2012, and a rare find, she says, with understatement, she was ‘just really pleased to see’.

All photos digitally enhanced

Photos by Lindy Frost

Orange-bellied Parrot population, Melaleuca, 2010-2012

                                                                

Arrivals and breeding data, breeding seasons 2010/11 and 2011/12 (Australian summer)

                                                                             2010/11     2011/12

Minimum adult males returned                                13                 14

Minimum adult females returned                              8                  8

Minimum breeding pairs                                           8                  8                        

Female breeding participation rate                         100%          100%                          

Fledglings from nest boxes                                      11                 11                

Minimum juveniles produced from natural nests    16                 3                         

Total juveniles                                                         27                14                     

Total known to be alive                                          48                 36                    

Founders collected                                                  21                  0                      

Total presumed to have migrated                           

  from Melaleuca in autumn                                  27                36    


The update states: 'These numbers are a minimum estimate because not all birds in the population are banded, and the numbers of unbanded birds are limited to the maximum observed at the same time'.                                 

The Orange-bellied Parrot Recovery Team

Members of the Orange-bellied Parrot Recovery Team, May, 2012:

Barry Baker (Birdlife Australia) - population and demographic science
Phil Bell (DPIPWE) - Threatened Species Section Manager
Peter Copley (DENR) - Threatened Species Ecologist, Recovery Team Chair, 2012
Jon Fallaw - Gippsland Regional Coordinator
Bob Green - Southeast South Australia Regional Coordinator
Jocelyn Hockley (DPIPWE) - Captive Management Species Coordinator
Mark Holdsworth - DPIPWE Tasmanian Program Coordinator

Jenny Lau  (Birdlife International) - Winter Survey Volunteer Coordination

Richard Loyn (DSE) - ecologist

The Orange-bellied Parrot Recovery Team, Adelaide, 2012

Michael Macgrath (Zoos Victoria) - captive management and metapopulation advisor
Peter Menkhorst (DSE) - ecologist

Craig Morley - Bellarine and Port Phillip Bay Regional Coordinator

Peter McGlone - Tasmanian Conservation Trust
Neil Murray (Latrobe University) - genetics advisor
Simon Nally (SEWPC) - Recovery plan development and implementation

Shane Pinner - Tasmanian Regional Coordinator

Rachel Pritchard (DSE) - Action Planning Group Coordinator
Jonathan Starks - Orange-bellied Parrot field ecologist
[Not in photo: Jenny Lau, Richard Loyn, Shane Pinner, Jon Fallaw, Phil Bell, Peter McGlone and Jonathan Starks]

***

Abbreviations: 
DPIPWE - Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water & Environment (Tasmania)
DENR - Department of Environment & Natural Resources (Commonwealth)
DSE - Department of Sustainability & Environment (Victoria)
SEWPC - Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population & Communities (Commonwealth) 

Disturbing

There's something about rare and threatened species that makes people panic. Is it the thought that they won't get to see whatever it is, or get a good photo of it, or simply the nasty fact that sometimes, everyone else gets a good view of it but you don't?

Not far from Melbourne, three Orange-bellied Parrots have frequented a well-known location since late April. Every day, a steady stream of vehicles has sailed down the gravel roads with breathless birdwatchers inside, eager for satisfaction.

Judging by the photographs posted on social media, many have had their fill, and more. With views of the birds only obtained by long telephoto lenses propped disturbingly close, beautiful images showing the beautiful birds now exist. Is this a bad thing?

How those photos were obtained, and how much we are disturbing the birds, was the subject of a recent request by the Orange-bellied Parrot Recovery Team. It asked that visitors to the site uphold the principles of ethical birding set out by Birdlife Australia in this document. Key words used were 'disturbance', 'flushing', 'call playback' and 'photography'.

I would add the words, 'bird hide'.


Given that the appeal comes on the back of numerous reports of bad behaviour, this seems rather mild. The birds have been exposed in this spot for decades; the fact that this year people are doing what they've always done and are now being asked not to, demonstrates the serious concerns held.

Trouble is, we all fear the worst. If these parrots go down the gurgler, then best see 'em while we can. It's a 'Last Chance to See' mentality, even though the BBC radio documentary that highlighted nine threatened species and the TV program ten years later found all nine still around. 


But you never know. Disease, predators or bushfire could kill all 36, known, birds. 


Back at the worst-kept secret place in Australian birding, new, temporary 'Road Closed' signs discourage access to a track that borders roost trees. They do nothing to stop walkers, and you could easily remove them to permit vehicle access. Given the serious problem, I can only guess that it's too late to build a new set of permanent gates for this year's season. What a shame that they're needed.


It's difficult and expensive to see the birds in Tasmania but that's the most ethical place to photograph them. There, the birds feed twice a day at a table which has a perching stick fitted above. It looks natural, and the birds sit up nicely on it; many photographs taken in Tasmania show OBPs on that not-quite-natural stick. 


It's impossible to approach one close enough for meaningful pictures without entering its discomfort zone. As for call playback, the less said the better. Unfortunately, now that a free app has been released, call playback will be even more prevalent.


So what's a recovery team to do? Instead of seriously limiting access, there are now signs. Here's how they look:

And here's what they say:

Please do not venture beyond this point

Each autumn critically endangered Orange-bellied Parrots (OBPs)  make the arduous flight from remote SW Tasmanian breeding grounds to the mainland. Currently ___ and surrounding habitat is the most significant winter feeding area for the species. To aid a successful return migration the birds must focus on building up energy reserves.

OBPs will abandon feeding areas if repeatedly disturbed. Please limit your impact on the birds during this crucial feeding period by:

• Staying out of the saltmarsh
• Not pursuing the birds if flushed

No one in their right mind could believe this will stop everyone. It's too easy to forgive yourself the odd transgression, especially if no one else is looking. The Recovery Team must be counting on the shame factor to a large degree.


What really guided my behaviour on a recent visit was nothing to do with other people. I could charge into the saltmarsh (and I'm not perfect; I've done this before), I could look for the birds in their favourite roost. If I found them, then what? 


They've been identified, photographed, noted, sexed, had their bands read, observed. Most have even had their blood taken (as chicks). On seeing one, I would add to my own small tally of mainland memories - pictures of stupendous beauty, horribly in the balance - that I'll likely have forgotten by next year.


Or, I could imagine them, small, bright-green, somewhere in a tree or hidden in the saltmarsh. Each time they thought danger was past, along would come another human. Until they left the place completely, unable to feed without bother. 


What I think about is the spring migration back to Tasmania: how difficult it will be, how important. If I did anything to disrupt them and threaten their arduous existence, it would be my turn to panic.


Am I judgemental? Of course I am. Most people think they behave pretty well, whether it's 'justifiable road rage' or looking for one of the world's rarest birds. I will never tire of seeing OBPs but I have come to understand I can do them more good by looking for them elsewhere than observing them where they are.


With any luck, one day, there will be hundreds of these birds. Until then, birders, please think and reconsider.